OUR LADY OF FATIMA UNIVERSITY

College of Pharmacy

PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY WITH TAXONOMY

PLANT TAXONOMY AND SYSTEMATICS

GROUP 15 BSPHARM 1-A-3

Answer the following:

1. What is plant taxonomy?

●​ Taxonomy classifies living entities to understand their evolutionary links.

Taxonomy identifies and describes species. Carl Linnaeus created modern
taxonomy in the mid-1700s. Using Latin, he gave each species a two-part
scientific name. Linnaeus classified plants based on their reproductive
mechanisms to understand evolution.
●​ Kingdoms group all living beings. Plantae are plants. Phyla are kingdom-level
groups (singular is phylum). Kingdom Plantae contains phyla Chlorophyta,
Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Coniferophyta, Magnoliophyta (flowering plants)

2. What are the levels of taxonomic categories? Give examples for each.

We have 8 major grouping levels or ranks in classification or in taxonomic

categories. Namely the Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,
Genus and Species, respectively.

●​ “Domains” are the top-level classification that categorizes life in the most general
way. It's even more general than asking whether an organism is a plant or an
animal. For example, protists, fungi, plants, and animals are part of the eukarya
domain. This is because their cells all have a nucleus.

Examples: The three domains are the Archaea, the Bacteria, and the Eukarya.
Prokaryotic organisms belong either to the domain Archaea or the domain
Bacteria; organisms with eukaryotic cells belong to the domain Eukarya.
●​ "Kingdom" is a taxonomic rank that is composed of smaller groups called phyla
(or divisions, in plants). Supplement. Historically, kingdom is the highest
taxonomic rank, or the most general taxon used in classifying organisms.

Examples: Living things are divided into five kingdoms: animal, plant, fungi,
protista and monera.

●​ "Phylum", a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class, that can be
defined either by a group of organisms with a certain degree of morphological or
developmental similarity or as a group of organisms with an evolutionary
relationship.

Examples: Phylum Chordata.Phylum Arthropoda. Phylum Mollusca.

●​ "Class" is a taxonomic rank (a taxon) consisting of organisms that share a

common attribute; it is further divided into one or more orders. In the biological
classification of organisms, a class is a major taxonomic rank below the phylum
(or division) and above the order.

Examples: In animals, there are 108 classes and the most common among
these are Mammalia (mammals), Aves (birds), and Reptilia (reptiles).

●​ "Order", it's one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean
taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the
order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized
by the nomenclature codes.

Examples: Carnivora is an order of meat-eating mammals. The cat family, dog

family and bear family are in this order. Rodents are an order.

●​ "Family", A taxonomic rank in the classification of organisms between genus and

order. A taxonomic group of one or more genera, especially sharing a common
attribute.

Examples: A collection of things or entities grouped by their common attributes,

e.g. protein family, gene family, etc.
●​ "Genus" is a class or group of something. In biology, it's a taxonomic group
covering more than one species. This is a term used by biologists to classify
more than one species under a larger umbrella.

Examples: the genus Canis — which is Latin for “dog” — includes all domestic
breeds of dog and their closest wild relatives, including wolves, coyotes, jackals
and dingoes.

Homo: A genus of species that includes modern humans (Homo sapiens).

●​ "Species" can also be defined as the most basic category in the system of
taxonomy. Species can also be defined based on a shared evolutionary history
and ancestry. Most people recognize biodiversity by species—a group of
individual living organisms that can interbreed.

Examples: blue whales, white-tailed deer, white pine trees, sunflowers, and
microscopic bacteria that can't even be seen by the naked eye.

3. What is the kingdom of life? Enumerate the different Divisions under each kingdom.
Describe each.

The Kingdom of Life has five-kingdom systems of classifications for living

organisms, it was divided by a North American ecologist Robert Whittaker and
that includes the Animal kingdom, Plant kingdom, Fungi kingdom, Protista
kingdom, and the Monera kingdom.

●​ The Animal kingdom or Animalia

Animalia is the kingdom that includes all animals; it is the most populous among
the five kingdoms.

1.​ Phylum Porifera - Organisms with holes, mostly sponges that have a
porous body and include marine habitat.
2.​ Phylum Coelenterata (Cnidaria) – Organisms that have a body that is
divided into two ends, they live in colonies as well as solitary like Hydra,
Jellyfish.
3.​ Phylum Platyhelminthes – They have a dorsoventrally flattened body
and have bilateral symmetry like flatworms.
4.​ Phylum Nematoda – Organisms that have a cylindrical body, bilaterally
symmetrical and triploblastic like nematodes or roundworms
5.​ Phylum Annelida – Organisms that have a segmented cylindrical body
differentiated into head and tail. Mostly found in freshwater and land like
ringed worms.
6.​ Phylum Arthropoda – These are animals with jointed appendages like
spiders.
7.​ Phylum Mollusca – Examples of these are snails and octopuses.
8.​ Phylum Echinodermata – They are Spiny-skinned animals like sea
urchins and starfish.
9.​ Phylum Hemichordata – Organisms that body is soft, fragile, and divided
into a proboscis and have an open circulatory system.
10.​Phylum Chordata – Organisms that possess a notochord and a nerve
cord with a closed-type circulatory system.

●​ The Plant kingdom, or Plantae

The kingdom of plants could be eukaryotic, multicellular, and autotrophic

organisms. It is all about plants, that have chloroplasts and chlorophyll pigment,
which are necessary for photosynthesis, here are some of its divisions:

1.​ Thallophyta - Plants with primitive and straightforward body structures, it

is a plant body, which can be filamentous, colonial, branched, or
unbranched.
2.​ Bryophyta – Plants that are present in moist and shady places.
3.​ Pteridophyta - They have a vascular system that allows water and other
substances to be transported from the root, to stem to leaves.
4.​ Gymnosperms – Plants that bear naked seeds, namely seeds that aren't
enclosed within a fruit.
5.​ Angiosperms - vascular plants that produce seeds and have a
well-differentiated plant body that is further divided into monocotyledons
and dicotyledons.
●​ Fungi

A kingdom that is classified as heterotroph. Microorganisms such as yeasts,

molds, and mushrooms are examples of these eukaryotic organisms. Here are
some of its classifications based on the formation of spores:

1.​ Zygomycetes – That is formed by the fusion of two different cells.

2.​ Ascomycetes - They're also known as sac fungi that can be coprophilous,
decomposers, parasitic, or saprophytic.
3.​ Basidiomycetes - Mushrooms are the most common basidiomycetes,
and they primarily exist as parasites.
4.​ Deuteromycetes - They are referred to as imperfect fungi because they
do not reproduce in the same way as other fungi.

●​ Protista

Protists are eukaryotic organisms that aren't plants, animals, or fungi. Protists are
unicellular organisms that can also exist as a colony of cells. The majority of
protists live in water, damp terrestrial environments, or as parasites.

1.​ Protozoa
●​ Amoeboid protozoan - Mostly found in bodies of fresh or
saltwater.
●​ Flagellated protozoans – They possess flagella that can be
both free-living and parasitic.
●​ Ciliated protozoans – Has cilia all over their bodies, which
aid in locomotion and nutrition. They are always in the water.
●​ Sporozoans - Their life cycle has a spore-like stage.
2.​ Slime Moulds – They are saprophytic organisms with a large number of
nuclei
3.​ Cryophytes - They have a hard siliceous cell wall.
4.​ Dinoflagellates - These are photosynthetic and come in a variety of
colors depending on the pigment they contain.
5.​ Euglenoids - The connection between plants and animals. They do not
have a cell wall, but they do photosynthesis.

●​ Monera
These are the earth's oldest known microorganisms, and organisms in this
kingdom lack a single nucleus; they are mostly found in moist environments.

1.​ Archaebacteria - The most ancient bacteria encountered in the most

extreme environments where the structure of the cell wall differs from that
of other bacteria, allowing them to survive in harsh environments.
2.​ Eubacteria - Referred to as "true bacteria" that move with the help of
flagella.
3.​ Cyanobacteria - Mostly found in the aquatic region that is known also as
the photosynthetic blue-green algae.

References:
●​ Science, L. T. (2020, January 21). Plant Taxonomy. Let’s Talk Science.

https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/backgrounders/plant-taxonomy

●​ BD Editors. (2017, April 29). Taxonomy. Biology Dictionary. https://biologydictionary.net/taxonomy/

●​ General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) Guidelines BYJU’S. (2021, March 22). BYJUS.

https://byjus.com/biology/taxonomic-hierarchy/
●​ Iberdrola. (2021, April 22). Are you familiar with the five kingdoms of living things? Iberdrola.

Retrieved November 18, 2022, from

https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/biology-kingdoms-living-things-classification

●​ Classification of animals: The complete guide. AZ Animals. (2022, November 14). Retrieved

November 18, 2022, from https://a-z-animals.com/reference/animal-classification/

●​ Admin. (2022, May 30). Plant Kingdom - classification and characteristics. BYJUS. Retrieved

November 18, 2022, from https://byjus.com/biology/plant-kingdom-plantae/

●​ Admin. (2022, September 20). Kingdom fungi- structure, characteristics & classification of fungi.

BYJUS. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from https://byjus.com/biology/kingdom-fungi/

●​ Admin. (2022, June 2). Kingdom protista - characteristics and classification of Protists. BYJUS.

Retrieved November 18, 2022, from https://byjus.com/biology/protista/

●​ Admin. (2020, October 30). Monera - characteristics and classification of Monera. BYJUS.

Retrieved November 18, 2022, from https://byjus.com/biology/monera/

●​ Admin. (2021, December 15). Kingdom Animalia (phylum, subphylum) - an overview. BYJUS.

Retrieved November 18, 2022, from

https://byjus.com/biology/animal-kingdom-animalia-subphylum/